mirror
by a beautiful catastrophe
Summary: You are his fire, and he is your ice.


**mirror **

_for Ralinde — happy birthday!_

thank you to Sam (MissingMommy) for beta reading this, and thank you to Sylvia (Budapest All Over Again) for telling me this was "pertfect" — perfect with a t.

* * *

**i. (moonlight)**

A glimpse of pale moonlight filters in from the only just open window, and it lands on you. It makes your features look almost ethereal, almost ghostly — the skin on your arm appears transparent.

You take a glance in the direction of the reflective glass of the mirror for a few seconds, and from where you're standing in the room, your reflection is blurry. It's not unexpected, as your eyesight has never really been that great, and, well, you hate the idea of wearing glasses. They don't suit your face at all, anyway, and really, the point is that they make you look ugly.

You take a few steps forward to have a better look at yourself in the mirror, and then turn just a slightest bit for good measure.

You look gorgeous, you must admit, with your hair curled into cascading ringlets of gold, your lips painted with a bright ruby-red — you look mature. Like you've grown up. But really, you haven't grown up at all; you're scared of growing up and still a bloody child at heart.

You squint at yourself, no, your reflection, Mirror-Marlene, before placing your hands on your hips (so does Mirror-Marlene) and thinking, _mirror-marlene i can't be beautiful and perfect you are the one that is beautiful and perfect so i'll just have to pretend to be you, okay?_

And there is no response, so you take it as a yes.

You descend down the staircase leading to the common room, and while you may appear calm, your heart is beating so quickly that it could rip itself out of your chest any minute soon.

* * *

**ii. (hope)**

Tonight will be best night of your life.

(you hope.)

* * *

**iii. (fire and ice)**

You see him down sitting by the fireplace, away from all his friends who are consumed by the dancing crowd. He is alone (surprisingly) and you have nothing to lose (because tonight, you are Mirror-Marlene), so you say 'hey' and so does he. You ask him why he's not dancing with his friends with his friends, and he says that dancing isn't really his thing and you nod. You make small talk about the friends you have in common with him and how you hate Slytherins and love Quidditch and things like that because you don't really know what to say — you're just another one of Sirius' girlfriends, or what Lily calls 'casual flings' so it's not like you can express that you don't want to be just one of _those_ girls — and there is nothing really to talk about. Everything is normal, until he puts his hand on your thigh and kisses you like you are the only girl in the world.

Your lips feel as if they are fire meeting ice. His lips are sweet and cooling against your burning and desperate lips and how you love it. It's magical and—

He pulls away before looking at you as if to say '_i'm sorry i didn't know what i was thinking_' and you look at him determinedly as if to say '_i wanted you to_'.

He seemed to understand, because then he grasps your hand, and you're both running up a staircase with him beside you, hands still clasped in the others. And then, finally, you reach a room. He pushes open the door before saying, "Ladies first," and so you walk in.

"This is your dorm?" you ask, looking around.

"Yeah," he says, before kissing you again, although this kiss is brief.

You follow him to a bed (which is most likely belongs to him) and he sits down and leans against the headboard, before pulling you into his lap. Your lips crash into his again, and there is no one else except you and him.

Every second that passes feels like a minute, every minute that passes feels like an hour, and an hour is eternity.

Your ruby-red lips — they have never felt so fiery in your life, your lips, your fire is burning bright and blazing hot against his melting ice. You can still feel him work his icy magic on you, and nothing matters except for feeling the chills that keep going down your spine. Slowly, slowly, his icy water is extinguishing your fire, and you are fighting against him to keep your flames dazzling, they're starting to flicker. This battle of sorts makes you feel more than alive — now your fire is like an inferno, and it's burning you, to ashes, to dust— But then his ice is back, caressing you once more. You're slipping into pure, numb, bliss — perfection.

You grip the bottom of his t-shirt tightly and clench your fists, the fabric still in your hands. You let go of it and he stops for a second, and you want to scream_don't stop now! _but he's only stopping to yank his t-shirt over his head so you don't say a thing.

As he continues to kiss you, his knuckles are gently grazing over your stomach, up and down they go, and it feels amazing. You can feel his hands go all the way down to the waistband of your jeans, and then stop and go back up.

"Do you want me to...you know..." he asks, translation, _do you want me to shag you here and now?_

"No." you whisper regretfully and look up at his crestfallen expression, "I'm not ready to grow up, Sirius. I know it would probably be one the best experiences of my life if we…you know….shagged, but if we do...then I'll have to grow up because, look, there'll be all this drama, revenge and jealousy aimed at me from the who knows how many girls you've bedded and you have to grow up to face such problems, and look, I'm not ready to grow up. I'm no different from the other girls you've laid, apart from the fact I have more self-restraint, so, just go…go and find someone else that will—"

"Marlene, love, I'm not ready to grow up either, and I don't think I ever will be. That's why I don't confront those problems; I run and I hide from them." he tells you. "I'm not going to pressure you or force you into shagging me, Marlene, but look, if you want to….then afterwards…..we can run and hide together. We can be forever young."

"Why me, though? Have you offered this to any other girl you've laid?"

"Never have I ever offered a girl anything like that. In regards to why you — look, Marlene, it's simply the way you twirl your hair around your finger when you're thinking. It's the way you refuse to say the word 'goodbye' when someone's leaving, and say 'see you later' instead, because you believe goodbyes are only for death. It's the way you leave me breathless after just one glance at you. You are extremely different from any girl I've ever met, Marlene, and, Godric, I don't believe in love at all, but what I feel towards you is definitely love." He inhaled deeply before sighing, "I'm trying to say, damnit, why are you making this so hard, no, I didn't mean that was what I was trying to say- oh, shut up, you great prat, I love you."

You smile at his nonsensical speech, and simply say, "I love you more."

"I know you do."

Your smile widens.

"I want you to shag me."

* * *

**iv. (know)**

Last night was the best night of your life.

(you know for sure.)

* * *

**v. (love)**

His arms are tightly wrapped around your torso, and when he sees that you've woken, he whispers, "Good morning, gorgeous."

"Good morning, handsome," you whisper back in return.

"Get ready to start running and hiding." he murmurs into your hair, muffling his voice, so it is only just audible. You can feel his warm breath grazing your forehead gently, and in a way, it's comforting.

"I am ready. Just— just don't leave me running and hiding alone."

"I will never leave you as long as you don't leave me."

"You already know that I would never do that."

* * *

**vi. (sunshine)**

A glimpse of golden sunlight filters in from the only just open window and it lands on you. It makes your features look like they are glowing, and really, you feel like you're golden right now. For once in your life you feel like you are _perfect_.

You glance in the direction of the mirror for a few seconds, and from where you're standing in the room, your reflection is surprisingly clear.

"Thank you Mirror-Marlene," you say to the mirror, who says it back to you at the same time, before smiling.

And just like that, you know that Mirror-Marlene also had the best night of her life.


End file.
